The Ambush
by Lady Stars
Summary: Jak and Daxter are exploring the sewers when a metal-head army attacks. This is a friendship fic, slight Kiera x Jak. R & R!
1. Chapter 1

The Ambush

Hello everyone!! This is my first Jak and Daxter fic, so, I hope you like it!! It takes place in the 3rd game and it's a friendship fic. I guess it'd be slight Kiera x Jak, but nothing else, 'kay? Please read and review!!!

*******

"Bleh," groaned Daxter. "This place smells worse than the funky crap old green stuff made at home!"

Jak snorted. Of course, he did agree. The sewers smelled revolting. Jak looked around and casually took out the Morph Gun, switching it to his Blaster weapon. He aimed it in front of himself carefully and shot the metal-head that was attempting to creep up on them. Meanwhile, Daxter continued talking.

"If Torn wants that damn sapphire so bad, why doesn't he get it?!" Dax cursed. It echoed off the various walls of the underground maze. He knew Torn couldn't be risked in the field, seeing as he was second in command, but Dax was still pissed off.

"Shh!" Jak hushed him. He listened carefully…There was nothing. Jak proceeded into the next room. There was rubble in the corners of the room and water dripping from the ceiling into puddles like always. Jak's eyes moved quickly, glancing around in the corners and up at the ceiling.

"Well, this is more like it!" Daxter grinned widely. "No metal-heads or nasty sewer creatures!"

"Somehow, I don't think that's so great, Dax." Jak placed some more ammo into his Blaster. "There should be more metal-heads in this area."

Daxter's tail drooped. "Isn't that sapphire supposed to be in this room?!" He looked around. "Over there!"

Jak scanned the room. Dax was right; there it was. He walked over to the pile of rubble and placed the sapphire into a pouch on his belt.

"Jak! Did you see that?!" Daxter's claws dug into Jak's shoulder.

"No," Jak looked around. "I didn't see anything."Jak pointed his gun above him, his laser trailing away into the darkness.

There was a clicking noise from behind him. Jak whipped around and shot the metal-head that was creeping down the wall.

"JAK!! THERE'S MORE!!" Daxter yelled. Jak turned and saw several more metal-heads on the walls. He looked up and noticed the glints of yellow shifting and moving to the walls.

"Damnit!" Jak quickly changed weapons, his Beam Reflector now in hand.

"JAK!! It's an AMBUSH!!"

No shit, thought Jak as he fired a few rounds. He spun around to get the metal-heads creeping up behind him.

"Daxter," Jak fired a few more shots. "Get the communicator," he kicked a sewer creature. "Call Torn,"

Call Torn?! Daxter thought, This must be bad. Daxter reached for Jak's belt.

"Could you hurry?!" Jak snarled.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Daxter grabbed the communicator. He stared at the device in horror. It was wet and slightly fried. "Uh…Jak," Dax tried to get the communicator to work. "This thing is dead! Didn't you go through some water earlier?!"

Jak looked around in a panic. He had had to go through some water waist-high earlier. The communicator must've gotten wet!!

"AHHH!!!" Jak was thrown forward. In his distraction, metal-heads had crept up from behind and swiped at him. Jak leapt up, blood dripping from his sides, and shot several bullets in each direction. He sprinted for the exit, hurtling fallen metal-heads and creatures, only to be flung aside. There was a sickening crunch as a metal-head stepped on his right arm.

"Aghh!" groaned Jak. He tensed up his left arm and swung it around, hitting the metal-head in its face. He rolled over, wincing at the sting coursing its way through his body.

"Ngh…" Jak stood up unsteadily and looked for his gun mod. He saw it and began to fight his way toward it, his arm hanging useless on his right side. Jak felt slightly off balance, and it wasn't because of the pain lacing up his arm and side…It was due to the fact that his shoulder felt oddly weightless.

Realization struck. "DAX?!?!" Jak yelled, looking around wildly. "DAXTER?!?!"

"Over…here…" Dax grunted. He was hauling Jak's gun behind him. Jak rushed over and scooped him up with his left arm. Daxter looked at Jak's bad arm, his eyebrows raised. "Jak, your arm, what hap-"

"Not now, Dax," Jak crouched down and placed his gun on his knee, holding is steady as the metal-heads enclosed them in a small area. Their eyes were glinting, ready to kill. They moved from side-to-side, trying to decide when it was best to attack. The clicking from their claws on the sewer floor filled the room up with noise. Jak cocked his gun and fired a few shots at the nearest metal-heads when there was a dull click from the gun.

"Damn," Jak mumbled, changing guns. The Vulcan Fury didn't have much ammo either, but it was the best he had at the moment. He brought the gun up and fired it at the metal-heads in front of him and swung around to face the ones behind him.

"JA-AK!!!" Daxter screamed.

"I know!" Jak struggled to raise his gun to fire, but he wasn't quick enough. His right arm was useless, just limp and hanging. Metal-heads pounded on his chest crushing him, suffocating him. Jak struggled to escape, claws tearing through his shirt, ripping his skin. Bright scarlet blood appeared, staining his shirt.

"Run," Jak gasped as he felt his ribs crack. His resolve wavered, ready to allow the darkness to take over…No, he would stay in control. He could do this. "Run…Dax…" Daxter had been backing up in terror, but then he froze. This was Jak! He had to do _something_!!

Daxter looked at Jak, still thrashing despite his broken ribs, his good arm searching for something. Blood was dripping down his cheek and sticking to his skin. What was he looking for? His gun…a rock…Hmmm…

Wait!! His gun! Daxter scanned the room through the legs of the metal-heads. There it was! Dax crawled through the various legs, getting scratches and cuts from the dangling claws. Snatching the Morph Gun, he pulled it back, retracing his steps to find Jak again.

He saw Jak through a couple holes in the metal-heads group. There was crunch-another rib. Jak's eyes rolled back…He couldn't reign it in. Now was its chance! The darkness rose to take over when a voice jerked him back to reality.

"JAK!! Jak, buddy, c'mon!!" Dax yelled, dragging the gun the last few feet. Jak's eyelids fluttered open at the sound of Daxter's voice. He looked over at Daxter, blood dripping into his eyes. The weight on him was suffocating…breathing was beginning to become difficult.

"I told you…to go…" Jak whispered. He kicked a nearby sewer creature and struggled to escape from the grasp of the two metal-heads on top of him. Jak thrashed again and pain laced its way up from his feet up to his skull.

"Hang in there," Dax called. Almost…there…

I can't do this. I need _it _to help me. Jak looked at Daxter and realized what was behind him. "Dax, look out!" Jak gasped. A metal-head was bearing down on his best friend, ready to attack.

"Yahh!!!" Daxter yelped as he looked over his shoulder.

Adrenaline coursed through Jak's veins as the darkness took over. His struggles increased and he managed to throw the metal-heads off. He charged at the metal-head practically on top of Daxter. After wrestling for a few minutes, Dark Jak had won.

Dark Jak stood up. He shuddered as Jak shoved past the darkness and took control again. Daxter hopped up onto Jak's shoulder and gave him the Morph Gun. He changed the gun mode, the Wave Concusser in his hands.

He held the trigger down, waiting. Even holding the trigger with his left hand, pain still coursed its way through his body. The metal-heads swarmed closer…5 feet now…3…

"Jak! Let it go!!" Dax yelled in Jak's ear.

"Not…yet…"Jak murmured…1 foot…NOW!!!

Jak released the trigger, sending a ripple throughout the crowd of metal-heads. They were thrown backwards, instantly killing the first few rows, scattering the last. Those alive or only slightly injured fled to the corners and crevices of the room, scurrying back up the walls if they could.

Jak staggered over to the door, tripping over dead sewer creatures and metal-heads. He leaned on its frame. He reached up with his left arm, wincing as his ribs cried out in protest. "Dax?" he asked. "The jet board,"

"Got it, buddy." Daxter turned around and pulled the jet board out and placed it in front of Jak. Jak got on and leaned forward slightly. He crouched in a position that caused him the least amount of pain. The jet board carried them to the entrance of the sewers. The elevator opened and the two walked inside. It rose, carrying them to the surface of Haven.

"Dax," Jak wiped a bit of dried blood off his cheek. Fresh red blood replaced it. "Find a hover car."

Daxter ran off without a word. Jak proceeded to climb(crawl, really) the ramp. Daxter stopped at the top of the ramp and Jak pulled himself into the blue two-seater. He leaned back into the seat, letting his head fall back. Dax looked at him worried.

"You drive," Jak spoke in short terms, not wasting his breath.

"Okay…" Daxter looked ahead as he powered up the hover car. "Just hang in there." He sped away to the Naughty Ottsel.

Daxter pulled up in front of the Naught Ottsel with a slight jerk. Jak stumbled out of the hover car and waited for the door to the former bar to open. Jak moved inside and looked around.

"Jak!" Torn's gravelly voice cried out in shock. "What happened?" He pulled Jak's good arm over his shoulder and helped him sit on a table. Jak sat there, not wanting to move much more. His ribs were stabbing at his skin from the inside.

Torn pulled out his communicator. "Samos, we need you here at the Naughty Ottsel. Jak's hurt," He glanced over at Jak and saw the blood dripping onto the floor and the table. "Bad. Hurry over." He hung up and walked over to a cabinet. He pulled out a medi-pack. "What happened?" he asked again.

"We were _ambushed_ trying to get _your_ sapphire!!" Daxter spat. He brushed some dried blood off Jak and himself. Torn's mouth hung open for a second. He recovered quickly.

"How'd you get away?" He questioned. Torn set the medi-pack on the table.

"Wave Concusser," Jak coughed dryly. Daxter opened the medi-pack and began to paw around through it.

"Your shirt's all ripped up." Torn commented. He winced at the obvious.

Jak looked down at the bloody mess that was his chest and back up at Torn. "No shit." He plucked a scrap of cloth from his chest and dropped it on the floor.

"How do you get this thing to work?!" Daxter shook a can of antiseptic spray from the medi-pack. Torn rolled his eyes and snatched it from him. He began to rid Jak of the chaos of a shirt on him. The bloody pile of cloth on the floor grew.

The door burst open and Samos and Kiera rushed in.

"Jak, are you okay?" Kiera ran over to him.

"I'll be fine," He assured her. Torn flipped the cap on the antiseptic spray and aimed it at the cuts on Jak's chest. He held the nozzle down and a mist of antiseptic jetted out of the bottle and onto Jak. A stinging sensation spread throughout Jak's chest, the wounds on him now foaming.

"What did you boys go mucking about in this time?!" Samos whooshed over to Jak's side. He immediately noticed the broken ribs and arm. There were minor cuts on his legs and deep gashes on his shoulders from where the metal-head had a hold on him. There was another gash on his forehead and a few scrapes on his cheek. This was worse than anything Jak had gotten into before.

"Sewers," Jak answered Samos' question. "Metal-heads ambushed us. I think they broke some ribs-"

"Three," Samos interrupted.

Jak grimaced before continuing, "and crushed my right arm." He looked at his arm hanging lifelessly from his shoulder before looking at Daxter.

"I'm fine, just a few scratches," Daxter waved it off as he looked at Jak. His body was torn and ripped. This was the worst he had ever seen his best friend and it worried him. For once, Daxter was not concerned about himself.

Samos waved a hand over Jak's eyes and they fluttered shut. Torn caught Jak as he slumped to the side, nearly falling off the table. "Hey!" Daxter yelled as Jak's head lolled back. He was completely unconscious.

"This is better for him," Samos hit Daxter on his head. "If he was awake when I replaced his ribs, the pain would be unbearable!" Samos waved his glowing green hand over Jak's chest. Several crunches and cracks were sounded as the broken ribs found their correct place. Jak's face twitched slightly as the bones in his body shifted. Kiera held onto Jak's hand as his bones were replaced.

After waving his green hand over Jak's chest again to make sure the bones were realigned, Samos moved his hand over to his crushed right arm to access the issue. There was a cracked bone and another bone was basically shattered. Samos concentrated all his energy on mending the shattered bone, leading the fragments back to their proper place. He then sealed the cracked bone.

Then, Samos waved his glowing hand over the deeper cuts and gashes. His hand stopped glowing and he settled on the ground. "That's all I can do for now," He said. "You know how to wrap an arm, correct?" Torn nodded. "Good. Wrap his arm and bandage his wounds. Come on Kiera." Samos changed the subject and headed out the door. "Oh. And help the rat would you? His scrapes are minor, but antiseptic and whatnot wouldn't hurt."

He then left and Kiera followed after squeezing Jak's hand and waving goodbye to Torn and Daxter.

Torn dug around in the medi-pack and pulled out some gauze and connecters. He wrapped Jak's arm quickly and efficiently. Torn sprayed a bit more antiseptic to his wounds and placed large and small bandages over them. He then turned to Daxter.

"Whoa, don't come near me with that stuff!" Daxter backed away. Torn merely grabbed his arm and began to spray the antiseptic over Daxter's scrapes and cuts. "OW!!!" Daxter cried. He then quieted down, realizing that it was not hurting him.

"…I never meant for this to happen…" murmured Torn quietly. Daxter looked at Torn with his eyebrows raised. Was that an…apology?

"For what to happen?" came a soft voice next to them. Jak was sitting up rubbing his forehead. He blinked blearily and looked at his right arm.

"Samos healed it-for the most part," said Torn as he finished bandaging Daxter. "It needs to be wrapped for a week to two weeks. Your ribs are healed all the way through."

"For what to happen?" asked Jak persistently. Torn shook his head at his friend's child-like behavior.

"For you to get attacked. This is the first time I've seen you beat up so badly."

"Ah," Jak nodded. "Well, I'm gonna hit the showers. Coming Dax?" Daxter hopped up on Jak's shoulder.

"You alright, buddy?" Daxter asked, still concerned.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah."

Just as Jak reached the door to go inside the Naughty Ottsel, further in to where the barracks and showers were, he stopped. Jak turned around and said, "Hey," Torn turned to look at him; he had already gone back to the table map. "We got it," Jak reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out the sapphire. He threw the gem at Torn, who caught it. Jak exited the room and Torn returned to his work shaking his head.

*******

Jak was lying on a bunk in the barracks, his hair still wet from his shower. He felt better than he had in a while-three or four years in fact. It must have been the green eco. Torn had his sapphire and he and Daxter were taken care of. This mission was over. All this was good, but why was there something nagging at the back of his mind?

He looked over at Daxter and it struck him. Nobody else would've stayed with him in that death room, but Daxter did. He could've run (Jak had told him too!) but he didn't.

"…Daxter?" Jak decided to voice his thoughts.

"Mmm? What?" Daxter's voice was muffled seeing as he was curled into a ball.

"…Thanks…you know, for staying with me."

Daxter smiled slightly as he replied. "That's what the hero is for, right? Getting his sidekick outta trouble. 'Sides, what else are friends for?"

"Yeah," laughed Jak. "Thanks." What else are friends for indeed.

*******

Hey, thanks for reading. Sorry if the ending was a bit lame. If I can think of a better one, I will edit it! Please review!


	2. The Seige

Hello again! I decided to post another chapter of this friendship fic, this time with Torn and Jak for friends. Please leave a review! I do not own Jak and Daxter.

* * *

"Dammit!" Torn cursed as he stared at the tabletop.

"What's your problem now?" Jak asked when he entered HQ. Daxter hopped off his shoulder and landed on the table, knocking over a small display.

"I am beat!" Daxter groaned. "We had to drive around your members and they would not shut-up! They just kept grumbling about this and that, going on and on…"

"Shut-up, rodent." Snarled Torn.

"Jeez, what's got you so strung up?" Daxter eyed the commander.

"I'm trying to think and you are annoying me." Torn frowned and fixed the display on the table, managing to shove Daxter off in the process. He rearranged a few things and stared at a spot populated with purple and red.

"You haven't got any blue there," commented Jak as he sipped a glass of murky water. He wrinkled his nose at the taste, but continued drinking.

"I know that. That is why we need to go and shoot up a shit load of metalheads and Krimson Guards." Torn dropped two small blue beads amongst the red and purple blocks and squares.

"We?" Jak raised an eyebrow. "I can handle it on my own." He set the glass down on the table and turned to go.

"Jak. Do you know how many one block is?" Torn asked, he voice hard. "One hundred, Jak. There are 3 KG blocks and 5 metalhead blocks. You are not going into that alone, not after what happened last time."

"What happened last time was suckish timing and no ammo." Jak snapped, his blue eyes flashing. "That won't happen this time."

Daxter watched his friend anxiously. It hadn't been too long since the metalhead ambush and he didn't think Jak was up to fighting off 800 enemies with just himself and Daxter. It couldn't hurt to help Torn-just this once, and it was only for Jak.

"C'mon, buddy," Dax began, swaggering up to Jak. "If Torn helps, maybe we could stop by on the way back and see Kiera. Ya know you wanna see her." He raised his eyebrows suggestively. There; he headed right for Jak's weak spot.

Jak struggled with his decision. He weighed the pros and cons: Cons-He'd need to work with Torn and that made him feel weak. Pros-He'd get to see Kiera afterwards. Possibly. Jak opened his mouth to tell Torn he was going in alone when he saw Daxter watching him with a worried expression. If what happened _did_ happen again, he would die and so would Daxter. Jak frowned. He couldn't lead his best friend to a death trap.

"Fine. You can tag along." Jak admitted defeat.

"I was coming whether you liked it or not. We should head out now." Torn shouldered a large gun and threw another mode at Jak. He hooked it up to the Morph Gun and grinned as the new weapon formed.

"It shoots bombs." Torn informed him. They headed out of HQ. He peered around as Jak fired up the cruzer. Daxter settled into the vehicle as Torn leapt in beside them.

"Where are we going" Jak asked as he pulled out into the traffic.

"The mountain pass." Jak sped off, dodging civilians and KG.

"The Bomb Firer holds 20 bombs and this-" Torn held up a large bag. "This has ammo for every gun we have. We are very screwed if anything happens to it. The rat can watch it while we do the fighting."

"If you had been educated like us, you would know that I am an ottsel." Daxter said primly. Torn muttered something. "What'd you say?!"

"I said-" snarled Torn.

"We're there." Jak interrupted their arguing. He jumped out of the cruzer and slung the bag full of ammo over his shoulder. As he waited for the door to the mountain to open, Torn came up behind him and Daxter hopped onto his shoulder. The door opened and they strode inside.

*******

"That's a lot of bad guys." Daxter said in awe. He, Jak, and Torn were lying on their stomachs peering over a ridge. It was a sea of red, waving as the KG milled about.

"So we get rid of these guys and hit the metalheads after?" Jak asked his commander.

"Yeah," confirmed Torn. "Aim for-"

Torn was interrupted as one of the KG cargo-cruzers exploded. Jak aimed his gun at the next ship as fragments of the first landed everywhere, crushing KG soldiers. Jak fired and the bomb soared through the air, crashing into a second ship. The moment there was contact, the small bomb explode, killing all in the ship and several surrounding it.

"It's coming from over here!" Torn heard a KG say. He got on his knees, making himself a clear target, and rapidly fired. The KG searching for them fell to the ground as the bullets flew through them. Torn picked specific targets, often killing two or three people with one bullet. He aimed so they were lined up in the path of the bullet, which propelled through each of them.

Jak paused in his firing to reload. Daxter handed him the proper ammo from the bag and glanced around. "Jak! We've got company!!" he yelped.

Daxter's best friend whipped around and changed the Morph Gun to the Blaster Weapon. Jak brought the gun up and fired at the metalheads who were attempting to sneak up on them. Once the few directly behind them cleared, Jak swore.

"What?" Torn reached back for some ammo.

"That."

Torn, Jak, and Daxter stared at the massive amount of metalheads flooding into the valley. They swarmed everywhere, moving with a purpose.

"Daxter, get out of here." Jak said harshly.

"Why-"

"They're blocking the exits!" Jak snapped. "Get out and get Jinx. Tell him to bring a hell of a lot of bombs." Daxter hesitated. "Now!" Daxter fled.

"What side do you want?" Jak asked with a sarcastic smile. Torn changed his gun's mode to the Bomb Firer.

"I'll finish up the KG." he turned his back to Jak and calmly fired the gun into the crowd of KG, ignoring the screams of pain as lives flickered out of existence. Jak held his gun up and shot at his side, putting holes in the metalhead army. A few second later, Torn broke the silence.

"We'll get back alive." He tried to reassure Jak.

Jak snorted, "I know that."

Torn said nothing for a moment. The he asked quietly, "Then why did you send Daxter away?"

Jak pressed his lips tightly together and shot off more bombs. Torn did the same. When he spoke, he did so calmly, saying, "I figured we could handle them one at a time, but all of them at once…" he let the sentence trail. "I just wanted to be sure Daxter would get out."

"It's hard when you know your friends are in danger and risking their lives for you." Torn said softly. Jak looked over his shoulder at his commander, surprised. Torn wasn't one to talk much about anything but the mission, but here he was, chatting about friends. Jak shook his head and continued to fire at the army in front of him. He decided to put this aside for now.

Jak reached back for more ammo for the Bomb Firer and felt none. He turned and shifted the other ammunition aside. It was all gone. He swore and informed Torn of the lack of ammo. Jak switched the mode on the Morph Gun and shot of all of the Pacemaker ammo they had and switched modes again.

After a while of nothing but shooting, Torn turned around and faced the metalhead army.

"KG all dead?"

"Yeah."

By this time it was fairly dark out. The two Rebel Army members were grateful for the Skull Gems on the metalheads. It made them easy targets to shoot in the dark.

"You're worried." Torn commented. He brought his gun up to fire off a few more rounds before reaching back for more ammo.

"Why would I be worried?"

"Daxter's not back yet." Torn said simply.

"Why would I be worried about that? He probably met up with Tess by now and is having a beer over at the Hog's Head." Jak lied.

"Uh-huh," Torn muttered. Jak reached back into the bag and felt around. He turned and peered into the bag, cursing the scant light.

"We're out of ammo. How many do you think are left?" Jak asked bleakly.

"About 200, maybe less."

"All right." Jak straightened. "Stay here."

"Where are you going?"

Black lights sparked over Jak's fingertips and he grinned broadly. "I'm gonna go kill some metalheads." Jak's body changed as he half ran, half tumbled down the ridge. Jak's darker side screamed a war cry as he sprinted into the battlefield, quickly killing the few guarding the frontlines with swipes from his claws. He forged a way to the middle of the army where he leapt into the air and landed forcefully. Metalheads were tossed up to the sky, the dark eco killing them instantly. Jak ran around quickly, hurriedly killing as many metalheads as he could. He knew it was only a matter of time before his body ran out of dark eco to use. Already he could feel the eco fleeing his body. Jak smashed the ground in one last burst of energy, effectively killing the rest of the army.

The bodies vanished as Jak stared. Torn picked his way down the ridge, carrying the two Morph Guns and the empty ammunition bag. Once at the foot of the ridge, he threw one of the guns at Jak, who caught it deftly.

"Why didn't you do that earlier?" Torn questioned curiously. His expression was guarded.

"I don't want to be dependent on something like that." Jak spat. "Let's get out of here."

They traveled up to the portal that transported them to the door back to Haven and paused. The teleportation device wasn't up. Jak stuck his hand through it and nothing happened. He walked to the edge of the cliff and peered down. Daxter sat on a ridge below, staring at the portal.

"Dax?" Jak called.

"Buddy? Jak, that you?" Daxter looked up and saw his best friend waving down at him. "It's not working. I couldn't find Jinx, but it looks like you guys survived."

"Yeah," Jak called back. To Torn he asked, "Can you get Vin on your transmitter?" Torn nodded and took it off his belt, then activated it. He pressed in a short code in the back before speaking to it.

"Vin. I need you to get the portals in the mountains working." Torn said. Vin's voice came back over the transmitter, asking a question. "Yeah, now would be nice."

"Sorry. It won't be working for a few more hours."

"How many is a few, Vin?"

"You can eat breakfast at HQ tomorrow. Besides that, I'm not sure." Vin said apologetically. "I'll get started." The transmitter went back into Torn's belt as he sighed.

"Daxter, we won't get out of here for a while. Go talk to Tess or somebody." Jak called.

"Ya sure?"

"Yeah," Jak reassured him.

"Okay," Daxter left the mountain pass and entered Haven.

"Why'd you send him back?" Torn wanted to know.

Jak shrugged and said, "He doesn't need to stay here. We're just waiting for the gate to open, nothing dangerous. Dax can have fun." Jak settled down and leaned against the rock cliff. Torn sat on the other side of the opening to the mountains. An awkward silence settled in the air. Jak was the one to break it this time.

"So why did you join the KG?" he asked curiously. "And why did you run off?"

Torn looked over at Jak in surprise. His youngest subordinate had never shown any interest in others, especially him. Why not answer-this could be the only chance he had to get to know this strange boy who appeared up randomly.

"I joined the Krimson Guard when I was 15 because they were recruiting. I had no family, so it was joining the army or being a civilian. The way I saw it, being in the army was a way to get more control over others. I like to being in command." Torn explained when Jak rose and inquisitive eyebrow. Torn went on, "It was alright at first in the KG, and I gained rank quickly. Then, about two years ago, I found out that the Baron was doing some horrible things in the dungeons of the palace." Torn shuddered.

"What'd you find out?" Jak wondered, a peculiar look on his face. Torn grimaced and gave Jak-was that a look of pity?

"I found out the Baron was performing experiments on people using eco. I decided to join the Underground-the very people I was trying to get rid of-to get rid of the Baron. Ashlin found out what I was doing and tried to stop me. When I told her why, she agreed with me and helped me get out. She's been helping the Underground ever since."

Jak was quiet, thinking over what Torn had said. Torn watched his companion's face, wondering if he would be upset by what he heard. Jak spoke.

"Why didn't you try to help out the people being experimented on?"

Torn gave Jak a look. "I had barely mentioned it to the Baron, he warned me right then: He'd use me as a test subject if I did anything out of order. Then when Erol-"

"You knew Erol?!" Jak was on his feet in an instant.

"We went on rounds and ate together." Torn explained before continuing. "When Erol found out that I knew about the experiments, he asked me if I wanted to help." Torn spat his disgust. "I knew asking him to leave the KG with me would be a bad idea, so it was just Ashlin and me. I left and quickly found the Underground. A bit later, I was in command."

The silence fell over the two men again. Jak stared off into the distance, as did Torn.

"Who were you before you came here?" Jak threw Torn a confused look. "Before you showed up and wanted to kill the Baron."

"I was one of your Baron's precious 'test subjects'." Jak spat. "For two damn years I was stuck in that prison."

"How'd you get out?" Torn kept his face passive.

"Daxter," Torn could not keep the surprise out of his face when he heard who Jak's savior was.

"Who were you before you were in the prisons?"

"I…I wasn't so angry." Jak said softly. "I never spoke either." A small, shaky smile formed on his face. "And now I'm mad all the time."

"You don't look like you came from here." Torn steered away from the touchy subject.

"I'm not. I lived in Sandover." Jak's face brightened as he reminisced.

"What was it like there?"

"Green. There was a beach that Dax, Keira and I played on and the Forbidden Jungle," Jak shuddered. Torn noticed and grinned widely.

"What happened there?" He wanted to know.

"Heh. On my ninth birthday, Dax and I were messing with a wumpbee nest and found out the hard way why you stay away from them." Jak laughed-not the angry, evil laugh that normally emerged from his throat. It was bright and happy at the memory of doing something stupid a long time ago.

Silence fell once more. Now it was so dark that you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. Jak heaved a sigh of boredom and Torn smiled at his impatience.

"Hey,"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for telling me. You know, about the KG. You didn't have to." Jak delayed in telling Torn his thanks.

"Yeah. Thanks for telling me about yourself. It was…interesting." There was another pause before Jak spoke.

"What were you saying earlier? About friends being in danger..." Although Torn couldn't see it, Jak was looking at him curiously.

"Ah, that," Torn sighed. He didn't know why he had said that; the words just came out of his mouth. Now he had to explain why being him sucked.

"When you're in command, sometimes you have to make decisions that you don't want to have to make." Torn started. "Decisions like sending your friends into places that you know they could get killed in. I've been pretty lucky so far, but…" Torn trailed off.

"But what?" Jak urged.

"Sometimes it just comes to close for comfort." Torn said bluntly. When Jak had staggered into HQ after that metalhead ambush…That hadn't been good. What was supposed to be a simple mission had turned into a disaster.

"Are we…friends?" Jak asked cautiously. He was revealing too much, becoming too vulnerable to someone besides Daxter or Kiera. He was worried Torn would say something or do something…

"…Yeah…" Torn replied, surprised that Jak was acting this way, like a child. But he was trusting Torn not to laugh, or be cruel and Torn was trusting him with his personal information, about the KG. He had even told Jak that he had no family, whether intentional or not.

"Alright," Jak's fist appeared in front of Torn's face. He stared at it in surprise before his mind connected what Jak wanted. Torn pressed his knuckles to Jak's.

"Friends," Torn confirmed. There was a zap to their left. Both their heads whipped that way, staring at the portal that had just opened. The communicator popped out of Torn's pocket.

"Is it working now?" Vin's shaky voice asked.

"Yeah," Torn replied.

"Sorry it took so long, eh, I was working on something of vital importance."

"Oh, yeah?" Jak queried. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing. Good-bye." Vin hung up on them.

"Well," Torn said. He got up and walked over to the portal and leapt through. Jak followed after. They entered the gates of Haven and made their way back to HQ.

*******

*One week later*

Torn sat at the table located in the center of HQ, staring at the tabletop clearly pleased. He leaned back and allowed his mind to wander from the war against the KG and metalheads. His thoughts wandered to Jak and their conversation in the mountains. The only time he had seen him since was giving him a mission to go to the dark eco mines through Vin's portal. Torn wondered if that chat between the two of them changed anything. Now that it was out in the open about their friendship, would everything be different?

The doors to HQ burst open and Jak thundered down the stairs yelling, "TORN!!!"

Torn stood up and glared at the younger man. In his mind he thought, nothing has changed at all.

* * *

Whoot! Chappie finished. Please leave a review!


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